Lessons from a Loose Tooth

It’s been a few years since I’ve lost a baby tooth. We won’t go there about how long. But it has been awhile. This past week my youngest lost her first tooth.

I was getting a little bit worried. She is seven and a half years old and no loose teeth yet. One day she found that her front bottom tooth was loose. The excitement she had is totally indescribable. Every other sentence was about her loose tooth. She had heard tales of my brother pulling my first one. I never felt a thing. She asked if he would do it for her. A few days later the tooth was extremely loose.

My brother agreed to pull her tooth. It was so successful that she never felt a thing and the tooth went flying. About twenty minutes or so later we found it hiding in the carpet. She was so excited. The fear of it coming out never entered the picture. She was ready for the change.

This really got me to thinking. How often do we embrace change? How often do we meet it with excitement and tell everyone about it? Very rarely.

When change enters our lives, we usually run from it. We fight it. We try to stop it. We like things the way they are. There are some things we actually try to bring change in. Many of us look for relationships and even embrace the changes it brings into our lives. When we decide to get married, the change is usually received with excitement and the whole world is informed. Now others around us might fight those changes, but the general rule is that change is fought.

Why do we do that? Why are we so satisfied with the ways our lives are? The changes before us could bring us growth, blessings, new opportunities. Change can be one of the best things that enters our lives. Maybe we should all receive change the way my daughter did with her tooth. Take some joy in it and jump right in. You never know what you will find.

Romans 5:8

  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

 Romans 5:8

Wow!  We don’t have to get out lives straight first?  We don’t have to quit drinking before entering a church?  We don’t have to stop eating excessively before having Christ as our Lord?  We don’t have to be perfect before being accepted?  That is what so many people tell us and imply.  We need to first get our lives straight before we walk into a church?  Boy, do they have it wrong.  Jesus did not wait for the prostitute to stop selling her wares before speaking to her and pouring out forgiveness.  He did not wait for the leper to be healed before touching him.  He did not wait for the corpse to be removed before entering the death room and prove death powerless.  He did not wait on purity.  He waited on us to turn toward Him.  That is all.  He waited on us to cry out to Him and to bring that dirty filthy life before Him.  He can clean your life like no cleaner on the market today or in the future.  Only He can make your life pure.  The churches cannot.  Ministers cannot.  Christians cannot.  Only Christ.  So you have to have the Great Cleaner do the work.  But to do that you have to come dirty to Him.  Come to Him and let Him clean your life.  The relief you feel will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he mediates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither,
whatever he does prospers.
(NIV)

How many times do we tend to listen to advice from those that are not wise? We mainly do this because we like what they have to say. We don't always like what we hear that we should listen to. Why do we do this? Because it is easy. We don't want to have to rethink our ways or be serious about it.

A sign of maturity is when we turn to God and listen to His words instead of those that want to influence us for selfish reasons. When we go the Bible first and on our knees in prayer, we seek out the most perfect of wisdom. When we go to a friend or someone who has deceit in their hearts, we seek destruction. Very little will come out of it.

Today, I pledge to seek out God's counsel more and to spend more time with Him. What better wisdom could I ask for?

Obstacles are Opportunities

I can honestly say that I go up against about a dozen obstacles a day. Most of them are huge. I'm not exaggerating. They are enormous. But the last huge one I faced, brought me back to the realization that God does not see them as we do. He sees them as opportunities.

I had just written an article on Barnabas. When I got to the point where Barnabas and Paul had a disagreement over taking (John) Mark with them on their next missionary trip, I noted how their disagreement was actually giving God the results that he needed. It might not have been in the best manner, but the missionary efforts were doubled. We see a problem at first. God saw an opportunity. That was written two days ago. I didn't realize that God was preparing me for the next "opportunity" in my life.

When that time came, I was angry at first. I mean, come on, God. What next? (By the way, don't ever seriously ask that question. You might get an answer.) After a while during the whole conversation, my anger turned from being a hurt and angry anger to one of determination. Does that make sense? I began to see the opportunity that someone else wanted to make and obstacle. My anger turned to wanting to get going and show them that God is the one we answer to and who is in control. No one else. No one can derail His plan. No one can mess up His mission. Ideas began to pour in through me and others as we realized that the true obstacle had been removed. We now had such a sense of freedom and purpose. The weight around our neck was gone. We were free to stop living the drama around us and focus on the opportunities in front of us. They are multiplying.

When you are faced with an issue, stop and think of how God is looking at this. Is it derailing His plan for you life? Is He really a God in control? How powerful is He if this obstacle can stop Him? Nothing can prevent Him from doing anything. He is God. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is!

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Don’t forget that God resides in you. I’m not saying that you are God, but that when you come to Him in complete surrender, you give Him a place in your heart and soul where He can work on you and connect with you. He doesn’t leave you. He is there working with you many times, working for you all the time. You don’t have to struggle alone. He is there for you helping you make the right decisions and give you the strength when you have to say no. Remember that you are not alone.

Learning Daily

I love the psalms of David. They are raw. They are honest. Yet, I always felt that I could not always relate to what he wrote. God has a way of growing us by allowing us to eventually experience many of the same feelings that the saints in the Word felt.

Recently, I experienced betrayal. It hurt like a knife in the heart. I had trusted someone that I considered a friend and someone that I respected. I found out that much of it if not all was a lie. They had gotten close to me and encouraged me to confide in them. None of that is wrong, but when they stored up in the information to use against me at a later date I was devastated. The truth was distorted and twisted to make anything I said or did to look ugly and horrible. I could not believe it. Now, I understood David.

David was a man who had so many people after him. They chased him. They slandered him. They laid traps for him. They thirsted for his blood. He cried to the Lord in his innocence. Was David perfect? No. Did he sin? Yes. Yet, his enemies could not attack him in those areas. They made up lies and tried to bring him down. He constantly asked God to let them fall into their traps.

These Psalms now take on new meaning for me as I hear how this person is claiming that I lie and steal. Do I have faults? More than I care to look at. Yet, they pull ones that have no prove to slander me. A so-called friend.

I have wished like David that they be wiped from the earth. I have wished that they fall into their own traps. I lift up all this before God. I hurt yet I need to learn to pray for them. This is hard especially when it comes from someone with enough Christian years and knowledge under their belt. They do know better.

Discovering the world includes learning of the ugly and painful. We cannot go through life without experiencing some of this. We will have betrayal. We will have disappointment. We will have disappointments. Only through experiencing these can we grow and become stronger. I know that I will rise out of this stronger and wiser. That does not negate the pain nor does God wish us not to feel the pain. He was betrayed. He knows how it feels. He knows more than anyone. Yet, He rose out of it in such majesty. We can do.

Growing is painful, but I thank God everyday for these experiences that make me a better soldier for His army.